
Issue No 70		07 September 2000

LaborNET	Ask Neale	Tool of the Week

Letters to the Editor

Its time to stop the pretence

'Rogue elements,' 'unwilling or unable to control the militias,' 'more troops needed'-those were the words used to describe what was happening in East Timor a year ago.

The same words are once again used to describe what is going on in the refugee camps in West Timor including the killings of the three UNHCR foreign aid workers in Atambua on 6 September.

It seems we haven't learn from the mistakes of last year-the authorities and powers to be at that time claimed rouge elements of the Indonesian army (TNI) were assisting the militias and were unwilling or unable to stop or curtail their activities. The same thing is said now.

What utter crap-the militias and the TNI were one and the same then and still is. The TNI if it wanted to, could have prevented the rampage in Atambua against the UNHCR.

Exactly a year ago on 6 September, the militias supported by the TNI, attacked the Turismo Hotel in Dili where fifteen of us foreign journalists (and our East Timorese interpreter) were staying.

Had they wanted to, the militias could have ransacked the hotel and killed us all. But they were prevented by their military commanders because their mission was to pinned us down while they cleared the 2,000 odd refugees at the International Red Cross (ICRC) compound next door to us and the 3,000 odd refugees at Bishop Belo's house next door to the ICRC-the refugees were herded to the wharf to be shipped to Atambua.

That was the start of the forced exodus-all told over 250,000 refugees were forced into West Timor. Many of those refugees are still there to this day, a year later.

Its time we stop the pretence. Its time to put pressure on the Indonesian military establishment. The world community must give them the ultimatum to disarm the militias and allow the 90,000 refugees still in West Timor the freedom to choose whether to stay or to return to East Timor.

If they refused then the world community must cut off all aid, contacts and military supplies to them.

At the same time, the Indonesian government must also be told if the military establishment refuses to act then the government will cut off their money supply. Failing to take this cause of action would result in money supply to Indonesia being cut off.

HT Lee

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Issue 70 contents

Interview: New Internationalism
In its battle with Rio Tinto the CFMEU has pioneered global campaigning. National Secretary John Maitland talks to Workers Online about globalisation, a union response and using new technologies to organise .

History: Pickets and Police
S11 protestors would do well to be wary. Fred Paterson, CPA member of the Qld Parliament, was bashed by the Queensland police on St Patrick's Day 1948, when a Labor Government was in power in that state.

Education: The WEF -Why Should We Care?
An event like the World Economic Forum attracts all the spin doctors for every interest, often obscuring real issues. For educators the issues may seem remote but a closer look shows that services like public education could be dramatically affected by the unfolding agenda of global trade liberalisation says Rob Durbridge.

Economics: A Vandalised Economy
Since New Zealand was opened up to the forces of globalisation, it has performed dismally, both economically and socially. NZCTU Economist Peter Conway reports.

Unions: Our Vital Role in Society
Eight months into his new role as ACTU Secretary Greg Combet reflects on the challenges facing Australian unions.

International: Turning Up The Heat
John Sweeney of the AFL-CIO says the union movement can and will reform the global economy, for as Dr Martin Luther King taught us, the moral arc of history is long but it bends towards justice.

Satire: Threat to withhold pocket money derails S11 protest
MELBOURNE, Tuesday: Members of the activist collective S11 announced today that they had decided to cancel their protest at the upcoming World Economic Forum meeting at Crown Casino.

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